175 
PROTISTS PARASITIC IN THE LARVA OF THE 
CRANE-FLY, TIP ULA SR 
(PRELIMINARY NOTE.) 
By DORIS L. MACKINNON, B.Sc, 
Assistant in the Zoology Department, University College, Dundee. 
(With 27 Text-figuresh) 
Introduction. 
In 1892 Louis Leger described three species of gregarine from the 
alimentary tract of the larva of Tipula: Actinocephalus tijmlae, Glepsi- 
drina longa, and Eirmocystis ventricosa-. 
The object of the present note is to record the presence of certain 
other protists abundant in the same host, but apparently unnoticed 
hitherto. Several of these offer points of special interest, the details of 
which I hope to publish soon. 
All the larvae examined by me came from the neighbourhood of 
Aberdeen, and I have found them almost all parasitized to some extent®. 
While engaged on this piece of work, I heard from M. Alexeieff (Paris) 
that he had observed similar protozoa in Tipula larvae from Grenoble 
and the neighbourhood of Paris. Alexeieff’s material was not nearly so 
richly infected as mine, but I have had the opportunity of seeing his 
preparations, and find that they contain all the forms observed by me in 
the larvae from Aberdeen. I should like to acknowledge here my great 
indebtedness to M. Alexeieff for his generosity in placing Ids material 
at my disposal, and in giving me the benefit of his large experience 
among the flagellate protozoa. 
1 All figures drawn to scale under Zeiss comp. oc. 12 and apochromatic obj. 2 mm. 
® C. longa lias since been altered to Gregarina longa and the genus Eirmocystis corrected 
to Hirmocystis (vide Das Thierreich. Sporozoa. Labbe, 1899). 
3 During the summer of 1911, I examined a large number of the adult flies, but never 
found any trace of infection. 
